Economic credentialing in the context of hospital privileges may be defined as the use of economic criteria, of medical unrelated to quality assurance, to determine a physician’s qualification for the grant of medical staff membership or privileges. The use of such standards has been found to be unreasonable bythe California courts and impermissible by statute (e.g., Medi-Cal laws prohibit the use of medical staffstandards unrelated to quality). Moreover, such “economic credentialing” may interfere with longstandingphysician-patient relationships and impair patients’ access to care. Finally, peer review activitieswhich are based upon economic, rather than quality of care, concerns violate the law and would not becovered by immunities which would otherwise be available under state or federal law.